Brassai (B.1899)

In 1929, Romanian (Hungarian) born photographer Brassai started taking his camera and tripod around Paris at night time. Here, he created ‘theatrical’ style black and white images of the life of the city. This time was a great achievement due to the slow lenses and films of this era.

Two years later he was to produce ‘ Paris by Night’ a photographic book that became one of the most important of the 2oth century. Brassai was the first photographer to shoot almost exclusively at night, timing his exposures by the time it took him to smoke a cigarette.

Born to a Hungarian father and Armenian mother, Brassai grew up in Paris later studying in Budapest before returning to Paris to work as a sculptor, painter and journalist.

‘My ambition has always been to show the everyday city as if discovering it for the first time’-Brassai.